Luke 8:26-39

Today, I took the liberty of posting a bit of a different blog entry on Writers’ Rest. I felt compelled to talk about Jesus. When I read the New Testament, I am amazed at the power of our Lord as he went about the earth, healing others.

Luke 8:26-39 is a powerful scripture, and I’ve copied and pasted it below if you wish to read it. Everytime I read this, it stays in my mind for a long time. It kind of reminds me of a Peretti novel. I could imagine Frank Peretti doing a biblical fiction piece about this demon-possessed man.

Plus, the fact that Jesus made those evil spirits to come out of the demon-possessed man, and then allowed them to go into the swine, thus causing the swine to drown in the water, just proves what God can do.

I can’t imagine being possessed by a legion of demons, so much so that one can’t even live among society, but up in the tombs, separated from others….

Just makes me stop and think, and be a little afraid, but to come to appreciate God’s power…

What thoughts come to your mind when you read this scripture?

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Luke 8:26-39 NEW KING JAMES VERSION
26 Then they sailed to the country of the Gadarenes, which is opposite Galilee. 27 And when He stepped out on the land, there met Him a certain man from the city who had demons for a long time. And he wore no clothes, nor did he live in a house but in the tombs. 28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out, fell down before Him, and with a loud voice said, “What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You, do not torment me!” 29 For He had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For it had often seized him, and he was kept under guard, bound with chains and shackles; and he broke the bonds and was driven by the demon into the wilderness.
30 Jesus asked him, saying, “What is your name?”
And he said, “Legion,” because many demons had entered him. 31 And they begged Him that He would not command them to go out into the abyss.
32 Now a herd of many swine was feeding there on the mountain. So they begged Him that He would permit them to enter them. And He permitted them. 33 Then the demons went out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the lake and drowned.
34 When those who fed them saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country. 35 Then they went out to see what had happened, and came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. 36 They also who had seen it told them by what means he who had been demon-possessed was healed. 37 Then the whole multitude of the surrounding region of the Gadarenes asked Him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. And He got into the boat and returned.
38 Now the man from whom the demons had departed begged Him that he might be with Him. But Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 “Return to your own house, and tell what great things God has done for you.” And he went his way and proclaimed throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him.

Photo courtesy of Danilo Rizzuti

This blog post is a repeat of an earlier blog post! Enjoy, and don’t forget to leave a comment! 🙂

Do you think that the Lord speaks to us in our dreams?

Last night, I had a vivid dream. I was at my parents’ house and some people that I knew in my childhood came to visit. They’d bought knick-knacks and cards and they were decorating our kitchen. The items that they were decorating with had to do with salvation and they were proclaiming to me that they were saved now. I had not thought of these people in decades, so, it was surprising that they showed up in my dream last night. Not sure why they came to mind? It’s possible that Jesus placed these people into my heart last night for a reason.

So, do you think the Lord can speak to us in our dreams? I know in the Old Testament, the Lord would speak to his followers with dreams, giving them important messages and advice. I’ve often wondered if there are others out there, who share a close, dream-like relationship with the Lord as the prophets in the Old Testament? Things appeared much different back then and the Lord seemed to speak more directly to his followers in the Old Testament.

Feel free to leave a comment about the bolded question above. It’d be interesting to hear your thoughts.

I also wanted to mention that Barbour Publishing has recently re-released my novel, Milk Money, in e-book format! It’s available for only $3.99!
Emily can’t keep running her dairy farm all alone. When her dad dies, Emily Cooper must work hard to save the family farm. She manages—until the day a CPA pulls in her driveway and announces he’s there to do an audit. Franklin Reese is appalled at the lack of interest the Cooper women have in the financial aspect of their livelihood, but he dives in, determined to help them learn. The further he looks into Mr. Cooper’s dealings, however, the more uncomfortable he becomes. Can he uncover the truth of the situation and still earn the love of the amazing Emily Cooper? Or will issues in Franklin’s own life keep them apart, even after the farm is taken care of?

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Photo courtesy of stock.xchng

Can you imagine God providing Manna today, just like he did for the Israelites in the Old Testament?

Exodus 16:13-15,31
13 So it was that quails came up at evening and covered the camp,and in the morning the dew lay all around the camp. 14 And when the layer of dew lifted, there, on the surface of the wilderness, was a small round substance, as fine as frost on the ground. 15 So when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was.
And Moses said to them, “This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat.
….
31 And the house of Israel called its name Manna. And it was like white coriander seed, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.

Numbers 11:7-9
7 Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its color like the color of bdellium. 8 The people went about and gathered it, ground it on millstones or beat it in the mortar, cooked it in pans, and made cakes of it; and its taste was like the taste of pastry prepared with oil. 9 And when the dew fell on the camp in the night, the manna fell on it.

Can you imagine what that must’ve been like – finding food on the ground that was left directly by God’s hand? I just think it’s cool and so utterly amazing that it just blows my mind! I wish I could taste manna…I’ve often found myself curious about this bread-like food that came from heaven, initially sheltered beneath a layer of dew. I’ve seen frost on the ground a number of times, but, I can only imagine what it must’ve been like to go out and actually gather the frost-like substance which was actually bread that tasted like wafers made with honey…I enjoy the sweet, sticky taste of honey! They also made them into cakes…I wonder what how those manna honey cakes tasted? The Israelites ate this food for forty years until they came to a settled land.

Have you ever been curious about Manna? Can you imagine the Lord performing such a miracle today? Please share your thoughts with a comment!

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Note: this is from my 2009 blog archives. I never located this scripture, so I’m assuming it’s an old wives’ tale?

Do you remember, less than one week ago, I blogged about a snow storm in my area, and they closed my job on Monday, March 2, 2009 because of the snow accumulation?

Six days later it’s warm and sunny, around seventy-five degrees, and I’m sitting out on the deck with my family grilling hot dogs, hamburgers, and chicken!

My question is, isn’t there a scripture referencing a sign about the end-times where the weather is mixed up and that you can’t tell the seasons apart anymore? I was glancing through my Bible, looking for this scripture, but came up empty, yet, I thought I’d read it at some point! I searched the internet and found the same question posted on this website. But, according to this site, I don’t know what I’m talking about!

So, blog readers, am I confusing said scripture with something else? Does this scripture exist? The first person to give me the scripture I’m looking for will get a free book(s). Or, if you think I’m confused, just let me know! I’ll continue searching for the scripture myself. I want to say I read it in either Revelations or somewhere in the Gospels? Also, I’m not sure if it’s a full verse, or just a few lines of one verse?

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Awhile back, I had a Sunday Brunch blog post about the disappearance of Philip. Well, I’d heard that there were other scriptures in the Bible where the Lord made the Saints disappear. Ironically, I read and reviewed a Chris Well book recently, and in that novel, he listed some other scriptures that had disappearing saints.

What do you think about God making the Saints disappear? I think it’s oh, so amazing and awesome! Do you think something like that could happen today? I think it’s possible, but not probable. Depending upon who it was, I’m sure that person would be missed by friends and loved ones, people would be wondering what had happened to him/her. There may be those who would know that the missing person was lifted up by God, but, it’s highly unlikely that all would believe.

Also, to be lifted up by God, disappearing, with no dead body behind…well, I’d think the one being swept up by God would have a unique, highly-personal, very deep, relationship with God. It’d be a relationship that most of us wouldn’t even begin to understand.

Here are the scriptures:

ENOCH
Genesis 5:24
24 And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.
Hebrews 11:5
5 By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not found, because God had taken him”; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God.

ELIJAH
2 Kings 2:11-12
11 Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.
12 And Elisha saw it, and he cried out, “My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen!” So he saw him no more. And he took hold of his own clothes and tore them into two pieces.

JESUS – This instance is in a different vein than the rest on this list. However, I felt compelled to include this one since it’s familiar to most Christians and it helps to illustrate what I’m talking about.
Luke 24:3-7
3 Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments. 5 Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, 7 saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’”

PHILIP
Acts 8:39-40
39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. 40 Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.

What do you think about God making the Saints disappear? Do you think something like that could happen today? Leave a comment!

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Did Samson’s lust affect his logic?

I’ve always wondered about this, so I decided to devote a Sunday Brunch blog post to this topic. In Judges, Chapter 16, the Philistine rulers approached Delilah since they knew that Samson was in love with her. They wanted to know the secret to Samson’s strength. The rulers offered to give Delilah money if she could tell them this secret.

What’s always stumped me was Delilah asked Samson FOUR TIMES, about the secret of his strength. The first three of those four times he lied to her, and, afterwards, he always fell asleep and found himself bound with the offending material, and Delilah was always yelling about the approaching Philistines. Samson always easily escaped from the ropes, fabric, thongs, etc. since these items did not deplete his strength (although he’d told Delilah otherwise).

I’ve always thought that sometime during those first three times, Samson would’ve gotten a clue that Delilah had an agenda. It was so obvious considering the pattern of events. However, he ended up telling her the truth eventually, and that caused his downfall.

Do you think that Samson was so overcome with lust and love for Delilah that he couldn’t think clearly?

I think his lust overcame his logic. Also, the scriptures mention that the Lord came upon Samson numerous times. Perhaps this was the way that the Lord wanted the events to occur?

Feel free to share your thoughts!

~Cecelia Dowdy~

When you hear a prophecy, how do you know it’s from God?

First Corinthians 14:1 Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy.

My Sunday Brunch blog post a few weeks ago about psychics has spurred me to write about prophecy.

About ten years ago, after my first book (Promises To Keep) was released, I received an email from a local person, asking me to speak at her sister’s, Tee’s, birthday party. I accepted the invite and I arrived at the event, impressed by the large expensive house as well as the nice, immaculately-dressed party guests. We had a fancy dinner, complete with Cornish game hens, and a nice breeze blowing through the open windows.

I started talking about my writing experiences and about how I came to be published. One of the male party members asked me if I’d ever thought about sending my book to Oprah. I responded, “No, I don’t think Oprah likes to read romance novels.”

Then, Tee, the fifty-year-old birthday woman, quickly touched her forehead, and closed her eyes. She then looked at me and said, “Oh, by the way, you’re going to be on Oprah.” The whole “prophecy” experience was very quick and I barely paid it any attention.

Later, when I went to my car to get more books, D.(Tee’s boyfriend), comes outside and says, “Did you hear what Tee said about your being on Oprah?”

I said, “Yeah…”

He said, “Well, it’s true. You know Tee’s an ordained prophet.”

I said, “No, I didn’t realize that.” The whole subject of ordained prophecy was foreign to me.

Afterwards, when I got home, I glanced at the program that they’d handed out during the birthday party. The program had Tee’s picture on the front and the program also mentioned that Tee was an ordained prophet. I didn’t realize the birthday guest was an “ordained prophet” until I’d arrived at the party.

I have no idea if Tee is really an ordained prophet. But, if she says that she is an ordained prophet and I have no proof disputing that, then I feel that I can’t disbelieve her. I only saw this person once, and since my knowledge of this subject is sketchy, I can only speculate.

I still haven’t appeared on the Oprah show, but, I have no idea what, exactly, Tee was “seeing.” I guess it could still happen in the future, perhaps, since Oprah is still on TV (although her talk show was cancelled).

In First Corinthians, the Apostle Paul speaks of the spiritual gifts, but, he really advocates the gift of prophecy. The greatest gift is love, but, prophecy is placed on a higher level than speaking in tongues. The fact that Paul says that we should especially desire the gift of prophecy makes me stop and wonder about this topic. The word prophet is thrown around and used so much nowadays – it’s a common term and it’s kind of hard to know who, exactly, is a real prophet.

What, exactly, is an ordained prophet? Who ordains a prophet? Also, when somebody says that they are a prophet, how can you be sure that they’re telling you a message from God? Someone pointed out to me that sometimes psychics will disguise themselves as prophets – do you think that this is true? Leave your responses in the comments, please.

Also, a quick change in subject, if you have a Kindle and want to read a simple, heartwarming romance, then you should try my Love Inspired title, First Mates. I’ve been getting some reader mail recently about this title and I think you might find this cruise-ship-romance story very enjoyable. I’ve been getting positive comments from both male and female readers recently.

~Cecelia Dowdy~